倒打一耙 (dàodǎ-yīpá): to counterattack with false acc…

Image comes from 《西游记》: Pigsy (猪八戒) fights with a nine-toothed rake (钉耙), and one of his signature moves is spinning around to strike behind him - the 'reverse rake'.

usage

Always negative and accusatory. The speaker is calling out dishonest behavior, not describing a neutral counterattack.

In Pop Culture

猪八戒 Zhūbājiè

Pigsy

The phrase is almost always linked back to Pigsy in 《西游记》 (Journey to the West); the common saying 猪八戒倒打一耙 (shortened to 倒打一耙) is the direct source.

Stroke Order

倒 dǎo

打 dǎ

一 yī

耙 pá

Related Words

打倒 dǎdǎo HSK 7-9 #5,212

to overthrow / to knock down / down with

打开 dǎkāi HSK 1 #652

to open / to turn on

颠倒 diāndǎo HSK 7-9 #7,496

to reverse / to turn upside down / to invert; inverted

倒是 dàoshì HSK 5 #5,040

actually / on the contrary / contrary to expectation

倒下 dǎoxià HSK 7-9 #4,263

to fall down / to collapse / to be struck down

倒数 dàoshǔ HSK 7-9 #4,209

to count backwards; to count down / inverse number; reciprocal (math)

倒霉 dǎoméi HSK 7-9 #2,885

unlucky / to have bad luck / unfortunate

倒 dǎo HSK 2 #553

to fall; to collapse / to lie horizontally / to fail; to go bankrupt / to overthrow / to change (trains or buses) / to resell at a profit

打包 dǎbāo HSK 5 #4,883

to pack; to package / to get a doggy bag (take leftover food from a restaurant) / to bundle up

打动 dǎdòng HSK 6 #4,872

to move (emotionally); to touch (someone's heart) / to convince; to win over